Point/Counterpoint: The Comrie/Campoli deal

Peter: Likes the deal

It's difficult for me to say this, but I think it's a pretty good deal for the Ottawa Senators. As much as I enjoyed watching Dean McAmmond play for the Ottawa Senators, and as valuable as he is as a role player, he seemed unlikely to re-sign with the Senators; and is not much less likely now. Mike Comrie is also on an expiring contract, so the Comrie and McAmmond aspects of the deal may turn out to be a wash in the end--especially since the Sens could have re-signed Comrie whether or not they'd acquired him. This does give the Senators some extra time to discuss any possible contract, but unless Comrie is willing to accept a pay cut from his $4M salary from this season (which is possible, considering the off-year he's having), he seems unlikely to stick around. I disagree with those who think this is the desperate actions of a GM needing to make the playoffs to save his job; Bryan Murray is smart enough to know that Comrie is not going to be enough to get the Senators into the dance.

Which leaves us with the other two parts of the deal, San Jose's first-round draft pick from Ottawa and Chris Campoli from the Islanders. Campoli adds another young, quick, offensively-oriented defenceman to Ottawa's quickly-refreshing stable (see also: Brian Lee, Alex Picard, Mattias Karlsson, Erik Karlsson, Patrick Wiercioch). Although he's young, Campoli has played 228 NHL games over four seasons, which is decent experience, but he's still on a very good contract that will only pay him $625k this year and $675k next. According to Islanders blog Point Blank, Campoli had requested a trade from the Islanders (can you blame him?), which is why the Isles let him go. The San Jose first-round pick will likely be in the range of a 26-30 overall, which--according to TSN's Scott Cullen's draft-position predictor--is likely to be a very good AHL player, or a fringe NHLer. (Even if the Sharks are eliminated from the playoffs quickly and the pick is somewhere from 21-25, Cullen's matrix predicts that player being a full-time NHL fourth-liner. With draft picks it's always possible you find a player who's going to surpass expectations, but that late in the draft, it's often more likely you'll find someone who'll fall below expectations--as Cullen's calculations demonstrate. And even if you're in the minority and actually draft a player of Campoli's calibre at that draft position, you've still got to wait several years for that players to develop, and the Senators aren't looking for a long rebuild (while the Islanders are). Ottawa has to compete next year, and would rather not wait for that prospect to develop.



Ben: Doesn't like the deal

Irresponsible. That’s the word that comes to mind when discussing the McAmmond and 1st rounder for Campoli and Comrie trade. It’s a trade that barely improves the team now and doesn’t seem to have an eye on the future either.

This deal stinks of the one that Bryan Murray made a couple years ago with Joe Corvo. I forget who the Sens got back in that deal because THEY NO LONGER PLAY FOR THE TEAM. What’s the point of trading for Mike Comrie if he can’t help the team now and likely won’t re-sign after this season? Players rarely take pay cuts at the height of their career, and the Sens refused to pay $4M the last time Comrie left the team—why would they agree to pay it now during one of Comrie’s worst seasons? McAmmond’s contract was expiring, so it’s okay to let him go, but he’s the least of this deal. The Senators will not make the playoffs this season, so acquiring Comrie, if they fail to sign him, will be a waste of time, money, and a draft pick.

It really doesn’t matter who the Sens end this season with, it matter what prospects, draft picks, and contracts they have next season. If you like, we can boil the deal down to Campoli for a 1st round pick. This is supposed to be a good draft, and Campoli was selected 227th overall in 2004. The Sharks’ pick will likely land somewhere between 23-28… sooooo a 25th pick for a 227th pick. I understand this is flawed logic because some great players have come out of the late rounds, but the Sens can see what they’ve got… and it’s not a blue-chip prospect like what they could have snatched late in the first round.

So where does this trade leave the Senators? With one less asset and one more overpaid forward, keeping them from building towards next season. This deal goes no where.

Sens acquire Comrie and Campoli for McAmmond and a pick

According to the Team 1200, the Senators made a trade with the New York Islanders to re-acquire centreman Mike Comrie and also pick up defenceman Chris Campoli in exchange for Dean McAmmond and the San Jose Sharks' first-round pick (which was acquired from Tampa Bay in the Andrej Meszaros trade). It is also now posted on TSN.ca.

Sens fans should remember Comrie well from the 2007 playoff run, where he was a big part of the depth that enabled the Senators to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. He was allowed to walk the next season, and is on the last year of the deal he signed with the Islanders that will pay him $4M this year. He's a pending unrestricted free agent, and is having an off-year this season with 7G and 13A in 41GP.

In Campoli, the Senators receive a young mobile defenceman who's signed for a cap hit of $633k for this season as well as next year. According to his scouting report from Sportsnet, he's a very fast and very mobile defenceman who could eventually become a good powerplay quarterback. He's not an elite puck-moving defenceman, but he could very well help the Senators' in building a more effective defensive unit. This season, he's scored 6 goals and 11 assists in 51 games, and has 83P (20G, 63A) in 228 career games with the Islanders.

In exchange, Ottawa is giving up a good veteran player on an expiring contract as well as what would likely be a low first-round pick. McAmmond was never a game-breaker, but he was a veteran who could be relied on regularly to hustle, kill penalties, and could fill in just about any role in a pinch. Unfortunately for me, McAmmond was my favourite non-Daniel Alfredsson Ottawa Senator, which means I'll look like an ass with my McAmmond jersey. But that's fine (maybe we can re-sign him in the off-season; make it happen, Bryan Murray!). The first-round pick appears to be lining up as a very low pick, expectations would indicate somewhere between 25-30 overall, which would mean that the prospect wouldn't be tremendously promising (not likely any better than Campoli already is).

In terms of intangibles, Comrie might bring with him Hilary Duff, who might get along well with Mike Fisher's romantic interest Carrie Underwood. Interesting.

In an interview, Murray denied that he has plans to turn around and sell Comrie to another team; instead, Comrie will likely finish out the season with Ottawa, and both signs sound interested in signing a contract extension at some point. He also hinted that some of the moves he'll be making this season could involve putting players on waivers, perhaps to be dumped to other teams.

Although I'm disappointed to see McAmmond go, he may very well have signed somewhere else in the off-season, anyway. Exchanging him and a low-percentage draft pick for a more offensive player as well as an inexpensive, young, and pormising young defensive prospect seems like a good deal for the present, as well as a look to the future. I don't imagine Murray is done with his deals, though; there are still Filip Kuba and Chris Neil as possibly tradeable assets, and who knows what else.

(EDIT: Interesting note is that we can translate Murray's two biggest trades this season into Meszaros and McAmmond for Kuba, Comrie, Campoli, and Alex Picard. Doesn't look too bad for the time being.)

Musical roster spots: McAmmond, Bell sit out

Reports from the Ottawa Citizen indicate that veteran forward Dean McAmmond and offensive defenceman Brendan Bell will take their turns sitting out of the Ottawa Senators lineup as the Sens play the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight.

In their place will be defenceman-cum-forward Christoph Schubert and Alex Picard, respectively.

Coach Craig Hartsburg said that neither Bell nor McAmmond played well against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, and so they were pulled out for tonight's game.

Anyone getting the feeling these are starting to get a bit arbitrary? Is this Hartsburg bringing about accountability, by scratching the team's lesser-lite players (Jason Smith, Schubert, Picard, Bell, McAmmond... who's next?)?

Maybe Hartsburg's decision will be astute. We'll see tonight.

Smith in, Picard out

After being benched last game, defenceman Jason Smith will draw back into the lineup tonight against St. Louis while Alex Picard will be the odd man out, according to the Ottawa Sun. Sitting Smith didn't make the team any better last game, so we'll see tonight if bringing him back in will bring about a better effort from the team.


In the story, Picard said he wasn't surprised by the decision. I'm not particularly surprised, either, although the timing seems strange after Picard scored the Sens' only goal last night. Looks like the audition of Brendan Bell and Brian Lee continues for the time being, but I expect one of them to be reassigned to Binghamton somewhat soon--perhaps after this mini-road trip.


Apparently there were concerns with Dean McAmmond not having practiced with the team, but the same Sun story said that Christoph Schubert will be scratched once again, meaning McAmmond and rookie Peter Regin will still be in the lineup. I'd like to see the line of Mike Fisher, Nick Foligno, and Chris Neil reunited, and put Regin with McAmmond and Jarkko Ruutu. It matches one line of size and another line of speed, and they'd do well with roughly equal ice time on the night.

Regin re-recalled from Bingo

After a good showing in his NHL debut, the Senators have brought Danish phenom (can we call him that yet?) Peter Regin back from Binghamton.

It seems like a bit of an unusual move, considering two players (Chris Neil and Android Volchenkov) will both be returning fro minjury tonight, but Bryan Murray has said that he's interested in finding out what, exactly, his minor-league prospects have to offer in the big leagues.

With Regin drawing in, there will be a scratch on forward. It might be Christoph Schubert, who wants to play defence anyway, so he seems somewhat likely. Regin might also look good alondside Dean McAmmond and Jarkko Ruutu on an exciting and speedy fourth line. Or maybe there's been an injury that I haven't heard about yet.

We will see soon enough. It's nice to see Regin getting rewarded with another shot in the bigs, though.

In the event of a fire sale...

James "Jimbo" Mirtle released "An early look at 50 rental players", and his list includes four Ottawa Senators players. The list is based on players whose contracts are expiring and who're playing on "teams on pace to finish with fewer than 80 points: N.Y. Islanders, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, St. Louis, Toronto, Los Angeles and Nashville." Here they are, with their MRI (Mirtle Rentability Index), followed by what I think about their possibility of being traded:

6. Martin Gerber: Are there teams out there looking realistically at Gerber as a possible NHL goaltender? Is there a market for goaltenders at all right now? If someone wants to take him, they can have him, but if not I think he'll be in the AHL for the rest of the season (if Eugene Melnyk doesn't have a problem with that).

9. Filip Kuba: The best acquisition that Bryan Murray has made as GM, and he's likely to be traded at the deadline or lost to free agency. The possible wrench in the wheel is that I was under the impression that Kuba had a no-trade clause that he waived to come to Ottawa, and I imagine that is still in his contract, but no one seems to be mentioning that. Still, Kuba is one bright spot on a dim team, and would be nice to retain, but he might demand a hefty raise (to $4.5M, if he's lucky). If he's out of Ottawa's range, the team would be best to get something for him than risk losing him to free agency for nothing. And, with his numbers so far this season, it's not unrealistic to expect Kuba to bring a decent pick and/or prospect in return.

25. Chris Neil: Neil has had a pretty good year this season, and it looks lik he's trying to earn another contract in Ottawa. If reports are correct, he wants to stay in town, but I don't think Murray will be prepared to offer him much of a raise from his current $1.1M salary, if any raise at all. Should Neil not get extended before the trading deadline, assuming the Senators are out of the playoff race, he could get a pretty good return. With Cody "Mr. Glass" Bass, Chaz "Greatest First Name Ever" Johnson, Zach "Bryan Murray's Adopted Son" Smith, and Jeremy "One Game in the NHL" Yablonski all waiting in the wings, and Jarkko Ruutu on the Sens' roster, there is room--technically--to dump Neil, but it would also mean dumping a long-time veteran who would die for the team and whose contributions to the community are significant.

29. Dean McAmmond: Oh, come on! Don't do it, Murray. I've got a McAmmond jersey, and I'd like it if he would stick around for a little while longer. Seriously, though, McAmmond would be a valuable role player for any contender to pick up, with a low cap hit, great penalty killing abilities, and the skill and speed to contribute on any fourth line. He could certainly bring decent return, but I'd still rather keep him with the Sens. I don't think it would be unreasonable to see McAmmond take a contract extension on similar terms to the deal he has right now, paying him about $925K over two season, and I think that's a great deal for a player who can contribute like McAmmond can.

Two in a row: Sens 3, Thrashers 2

Here is a bullet listing of positive signs from tonight's game:

• Ottawa gave up the first goal, but still won in regulation (second time of the year).
• Ottawa came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits and won in regulation.
• Christoph Schubert hit the net three times, including some solid shots, and (according to the score sheet) had no shots blocked.
• Daniel Alfredsson massacred a net with his sickening shot, after a terrific pass from checker-cum-playmaker Mike Fisher (who got the puck from playmaker-cum-checker Jason Spezza).
• The Senators were outshot 32-31, but still won the game.
• Spezza also scored a goal (two-point night) and is now 23rd in the league in goals with 18.
• Ottawa was 2-for-5 on the powerplay.
• Filip Kuba got his second assist in as many games since returning from injury, and looked darn good.
• Dean McAmmond scored his second goal in as many games, and led the team (tied with Fisher) with four shots in just 10:53 of ice time.
• Jarkko Ruutu had his first point (an assist) in 8 games, and first since returning from serving his suspension for biting someone.
• No Senator had less than 10:08 in ice time (Ruutu).
  
• A goaltender, Brian Elliott, actually made some big saves, including game-savers late in the game (although he was shaky at times, including Atlanta's second goal).

That is all. Lazy, I know.

Bizarro Senators: Sens 5, 'Canes 1

It's funny, almost a year ago to the day from today's 5-1 victory over Carolina, I described an uncannily unusual win by the Ottawa Senators as reminiscent of the Bizarro World in Superman. When I saw Chris Neil control the puck to make a play to Antoine Vermette, who actually scored a goal, while Dany Heatley was wreaking havoc in front of the Hurricanes net, I thought: Who are these people, what have they done with the Senators, and how can I get them to stick around for the second half of the season?

So we saw Heatley score his first goal in nine games (bizarre), we saw Dean McAmmond score his first goal in 22 games which was only his second of the season (bizarrer), we saw Vermette score his second goal and third and fourth points in the last three games (bizarrer-er, considering his season so far), we saw Mike Fisher score his first goal in 20 games and fourth of the season after not panicking with an empty net in front of him (bizarrer-er-er), and then we saw Chris Phillips score his fourth goal in the last ten games (bizarrest). But I'm not complaining.

We also saw some of the most promising reasoned, on-the-fly coaching from Craig Hartsburg going into and during the game. Upon noticing the unsuccessful perimeter play when the CASH Line is together on the powerplay, he bumped Heatley down to the second unit and shifted Fisher to forward on the first unit. For the first unit, it meant that Fisher trashed it up in front of the net while Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson set up plays with the defencemen. For the second unit, it meant Heatley was put in a position of leadership and trusted to be a powerplay quarterback, something he did very well. I'm thinking of one moment in particular, after Brian Lee rushed a shot from the point, Heatley went back and let him know that he can settle it down a bit before firing the puck on net. Although the Sens weren't credited with a powerplay goal, Vermette and Fisher's goals were both shortly after and a direct result of solid powerplay work. The Sens had 14 powerplay shots-on-goal in the end, and had control of the puck in the offensive zone for most of their powerplay time.

The other demonstration of good coaching came on the penalty kill. After Fisher lost his coverage of Joe Corvo--the 'Canes most lethal offensive weapon on the powerplay when left unchecked--on Carolina's second powerplay, they adapted: On the next Sens' penalty kill, McAmmond covered Corvo like RDS would cover Vincent Lecavalier buying a house in Montréal. For the rest of the game, Corvo was covered similarly, and that--combined with, no doubt, the boos raining down on him hurting his feelings--turned him into a non-threat for the rest of the game. (Although he did provide a great screen of 'Canes netminder Cam Ward on Phillips' goal.)

In nets, Brian Elliott sealed the fate of Martin Gerber. He only faced 24 shots, but he did have to make some terrific saves, and the one goal Ells allowed would have went in on just about any goaltender in the NHL. He outplayed one-time Conn Smythe winner Ward, and might just do well with another 41 games in the NHL this season (plus playoffs)--as long as the team in front of him keeps up their effort level.

The Senators, however, weren't perfect. Spezza had two giveaways, and Heatley had one, too, although he didn't get tabbed for it on the scoresheet, and as a team Ottawa had 10 giveaways to Carolina's four. The difference tonight, though, was that the team used hard work to make up for mistakes they made. Good players have always and will always make mistakes; they are acceptable when those same players use hard work and good backchecking to make sure that the opposition doesn't capitalize on their mistakes. Spezza's M.O. is blind passes, which work sometimes and don't work other times; as long as he gets back to help out, though, the successful ones will seem to outnumber the unsuccessful ones.

All in all, a really great game for the Senators; one of, if not the best game of the season so far. All four lines saw plenty of ice time (Shean Donovan had the least at 8:51, the only skater under 10 minutes, largely because he doesn't see special-teams time), all but two of Ottawa's skaters were on the plus side of the +/- ledger (Jason Smith and Nick Foligno were both even), the CASH Line had four points while secondary scorers combined for the other eight, and the big three also had 18 shots as the Sens heavily outshot their opponents 40-24 and outscored them by a much more impressive margin. With the second half of the season set to start on Saturday against the Montréal Canadiens Wednesday against the Atlanta Thrashers, we've been reminded of what this team can do when they're playing with the right attitude. Although it's not likely at all, it sure would be nice to see the Senators finish out the season with some great effort towards making a push for the playoffs, even if it means we miss out on the John Tavares/Victor Hedman sweepstakes.

Bizarro Superman

'Nuck Off: Canucks 3, Sens 0

I'm going to level with you: I didn't really watch the whole Senators/Canucks game. It was boring. I missed the end of the first, all of the second, and some of the third playing NHL 2K9 on Wii, which I received for Christmas. (On the plus side, my Senators franchise team defeated the Islanders 5-2, although I have completely dismantled the team [assembling the best-ever power-forward line of Milan Lucic, Mike Fisher, and Dustin Penner in the process].)

Anyway, the Sens 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks was their twelfth consecutive, and it was far from pretty. Far from pretty. They barely managed 18 shots against Canucks backup Curtis Sanford, few of which were of the difficult variety. The powerplay was abysmal. Nothing really stands out positively on the score sheet.

From what I saw of the game, Dean McAmmond seemed to being some speed and energy to the game, although it didn't do much on or off the scoreboard. Antoine Vermette had three shots, but still isn't scoring. The penalty killing was perfect, including an extended 5-on-3 kill, but that's small consolation.

Bottom line: Ugly game, terrible road trip so far.

New lines released: Bass up, Lee down, Zubov out

According to Sportsnet, the Sens have released line combinations for the Sens' game Friday against the New Jersey Devils:

Vermette - Fisher - Alfredsson
Foligno - Kelly - Heatley
Ruutu - Spezza - Neil
Schubert - Bass - Donovan

According to the same report, Ilya Zubov will not be making the trip because his work visa has expired (how does a professional hockey team let that happen?), Jesse Winchester has an upper-body injury and didn't travel with the team, either, and Dean McAmmond is close to returning after a bout with pneumonia that has kept him out of the lineup for nine games. Which is why Christoph Schubert is dressing as a forward, and why Cody Bass was recalled from Binghamton.

I get that there are people who don't like the way Jason Spezza plays. But he's not a third-line player. He's been playing harder then I remember ever having seen him play before, but maybe this is just a sign for him to wake up and start generating--and capitalizing on--his own scoring chances. But playing him with Chris Neil? That's just not fair. Jarkko Ruutu can at least receive a pass, but I don't understand the idea behind putting Spezza with a couple guys who can hardly finish plays at all. If he is going to succeed, he's got to keep it simple: Send the puck to the front of the net, and hope that--if it doesn't go in on his shot or a deflection--Neil and Ruutu are right there to hammer home some garbage.

On defence, Anton Volchenkov is back from his injury. I guess they had to special-order some replacement pieces from Russia or something, because the robot had missed two games with his lower-body injury. As a result, Brian Lee is back to Binghamton after a solid two-game stint with the O-Sens.

I guess we'll see how it all works out. Hopefully one of the lines steps up and scores a freakin' goal.

Sens speak on Avery, Shannon back to Bingo

First off, the Ottawa Sun had asked a couple Senators what they thought about Sean Avery's comments (which I'm sure you know about by now), and they weren't surprised. Jarkko Ruutu, a charter member and Pestmaster General of the NHL Pest Association, suggested that Avery went against the "code" or pestmanship. From the Sun:

"It wasn't a surprise," said Senators winger Jarkko Ruutu. "If you want people to respect you off the ice, you better behave off the ice. Stuff that happens on the ice, stays on the ice. I think that's been the code forever. You've got to be smart with what you say. No one can dispute (he crossed the line)."

Daniel Alfredsson also commented on the off-colour remarks, saying that it was "immature". I've got to agree with both Senators, and suggest that it wasn't just immature--it was plain stupid. He's said stupid things before, including unproven remarks to Georges Laraque, but an off-the-ice comment denigrating someone who's not even a hockey player is beyond unacceptable.

Really interesting to see what Dallas coach Dave Tippet said about Avery, that basically suggested he's not welcome back on the team. It's got a lot to do with Avery's behaviour with his teammates prior to this event, but his recent comments were the straw that broke the camel's back. Kudos to Mike Modano for calling it all the way.

Onto a small roster note (well, small for Ottawa, but huge for Binghamton): Ryan Shannon has been reassigned to Binghamton. Because, according to Sportsnet, Chris Neil expects to play on Saturday against the Penguins. Not sure if Dean McAmmond will be ready to return, I expect that will be announced sometime in the next 24-48 hours.

Line shuffling

CASH Line stays together, everything else is different. Ryan Shannon is back in the lineup. Dean McAmmond is still injured. Chris Neil's rehab is progressing, and he might be good to go on Saturday. Christoph Schubert will play defence because Alex Picard is still out. Alex Auld is starting again.

The lines are almost all different:

Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson

Vermette-Fisher-Donovan

Winchester-Kelly-Foligno

Ruutu-Bass-Shannon

Smith and Lee recalled from Bingo

The Senators announced today that both forward Zack Smith and defenceman Brian Lee have been recalled from Binghamton as Shean Donovan and Alex Picard are both listed as doubtful for Saturday's game against the New York Islanders. Dean McAmmond is still out with his cold, so the Sens don't have any wiggle room on the roster (although the B-Sens have even less, with as many as nine regulars out of the lineup for their game Saturday to various injuries or callups.).

I have no idea what Picard's injury is at the moment, but Donovan has an upper-body injury, according to TSN. If McAmmond and Ryan Shannon are both still unable to play on Saturday, then Christoph Schubert will draw back into the lineup for the Sens, as a forward once again.

Although Smith has continued dazzling Sens' brass with his play at the AHL level, with a team-leading nine goals to complement seven assists in 21 games, Lee hasn't quite gotten back to the level he was playing at last season. That probably has a lot to do with not playing alongside AHL All-Star Lawrence Nycholat, but the Sens need big things from this kid.

The game on Saturday would be Smith's NHL debut. At 20 years, 7 months, and 23 days, Smith will be the youngest player to dress for the Sens since Nick Foligno's debut on Oct. 3, 2007 at the age of 19 years, 11 months, and three days. Youngest player to debut before Foligno was Martin Havlat (debut 2000-10-05 at 19Y, 5M, 16D) and before Havlat was Mike Fisher (debut 1999-10-02 at 19Y, 3M, 27D). Considering how long it took me to figure out that statistic, it wasn't at all worth it.

McAmmond out, Schubert might be in

According to Sportsnet Dean McAmmond won't be playing tonight because of a cold. Must be a bad cold... but it's not expected to be a long-term injury, so D-Mac's day-to-day. Since Ryan Shannon hasn't yet been cleared to play after his concussion, Christoph Schubert might draw into the lineup as a forward, even though coach Craig Hartsburg said he wanted to avoid doing so.

Fisher to play Thursday: Sportsnet

According to Ian Mendes on Sportsnet, Mike Fisher participated in a full practice today, and will be back in the lineup on Thursday against Toronto. Ryan Shannon was in the practice, too, so if he's ready to return it's likely that he (or possibly Cody Bass) will be re-assigned to the Binghamton Senators.

Chris Neil is expected to have his arthroscopic surgery on Friday, so he remains out for at least a little while. And Dean McAmmond missed the practice on Wednesday, but it's reported to be just a cold, so he should be fine.

Finally, Alex Auld will get the start. Is that really a surprise to anyone?

McAmmond gets the call

An article in the Ottawa Citizen spoke about the Sens' injury situation, with Mike Fisher and Chris Neil both out for a couple of weeks (at least), and the need for the team's depth players--notably Dean McAmmond--to step up. The article also mentions Shean Donovan needing to step up, but there's an interview with McAmmond, and D-Mac says all the right things:

"That's what we're here for, that's what I've been here for three years for," said McAmmond, who has one goal and two assists this season. "Play solid, somebody goes down, go in, play hard, patch a hole, whatever. I'm capable of it. Everybody always wants to play as much as they can. I think in this situation here, it's not necessarily that I was aching for more ice time and it's not a matter of me looking for my shot. I mean, I've got 15 years in (the NHL), it's not about 'giving the kid a shot.'

"It's like, they know. There are no secrets about what I'm about, and I think I'm in a situation here where I'm going to do exactly what I was brought here to do. Play and fill holes, and be counted on to do just that."

With the injuries, McAmmond and Donovan are going to be the new third line, along with Jarkko Ruutu, while recent callups Ilya Zubov and Cody Bass make a fourth line with Nick Foligno. Given how well D-Mac, Shean Don, and Ruu have played--together and individually--it is a deserved promotion, and they've earned the ice time they'll get. Although they can be counted on for reliable defensive play and gritty (yet responsible) forechecking, a few goals tonight would be an added bonus.

Too little, too late: Isles 3, Sens 2

Pretty late game review after a second loss in as many games against the New York Islanders, but it was so depressing I didn't really want to talk about it. With the two goals the Sens scored in the third period, the Sens have now scored four goals through their four-game losing skid--not good enough to win many, no matter how well goaltender Alex Auld is playing.

I'm going to keep this short, because the game is old news now. The team played hard, outshot the Islanders 15-7 in the first period and had 40 shots on the night, but had a hard time beating Isles tender Joey MacDonald. Most of the shots weren't great scoring chances, and they made MacDonald looks pretty good. Filip Kuba led the team in shots once again with six, and Dean McAmmond had five shots in only 10:13 played, the same number as Daniel Alfredsson (22:16) and more than Dany Heatley (4 shots in 21:41) and Jason Spezza (2 shots in 19:26).

It's quicker to list positives than negatives, so I will: The Sens were recharged late in the third when the CASH Line was reunited, and Spezza and Heatley scored the Sens' two goals (Heatley also had one assist). I don't know if re-uniting the line will work for next game, but it's about all Craig Hartsburg hasn't tried yet. Ilya Zubov looked really confident and settled, playing well in his 15:19 of ice time, registering two shots and getting some second-unit powerplay time. He hasn't been demoted yet, and will suit up Monday in place of Chris Neil, who injured himself just before fighting Isles tough guy Tim Jackman.

That's that. The almost-comeback was certainly too little, too late for this game, and might have been too little, too late for some players' careers with the Senators--time will tell on the latter front.

Pre-game: Sens v. Sabres, 2008-10-27

That's right, folks. I'm that crazy. I actually picked the 2-5-1 Senators to defeat the 6-0-2 Sabres tonight. Crazy? Stupid? Downright homer-ish? Maybe. But I hope it happens, because I gambled a twoonie on it. (It might be stupid to gamble a twoonie, too, but I make stupid picks with the heart and against the odds, so at least I'm smart enough to bet little money.)

As for the game tonight, Craig Hartsburg has once again shuffled the lines. And will, more than likely, shuffle them during the course of the game. We're going to have to get used to putting little to no weight into the line combinations, because Hartsburg seems like he'll be changing them often. Which is good in some ways, not as good in other ways. Although they'll change quickly, the forward lines as of now are (from the Ottawa Sun):

Vermette-Spezza-Heatley
Foligno-Fisher-Alfredsson
Ruutu-Kelly-Neil
Winchester-McAmmond-Donovan

I don't get why Jarkko Ruutu, who played so well on the fourth line with Dean McAmmond and Shean Donovan, has been bumped up, nor do I get why Jesse Winchester has been bumped down. But I guess we'll see what happens, because things change--and Winch might be subsidizing his even-strength time with powerplay time. Alex Auld will be in nets, and Patrick Lalime will be playing for the Sabres. Knowing the Sens' luck, Lalime will have the game of his life.

The game isn't on regular cable, exclusive to the NHL Network, but it is on the TEAM 1200. Or you could get extremely frustrated and listen to Rick Jeannerett (sp?) on Buffalo radio.

A few people are missing from this scoreboard... hmm....

It appears that the 'split up everyone' tactic has failed. When the Senators loss to the Leafs 3-2 (especially in the regular season) something has gone very wrong. The Sens are getting that secondary scoring in the form of Dean McAmmond and Shean Donovan, but there's another thing you need to win games... what's it called again? PRIMARY SCORING!

Coach, put the big three back together and let's end this losing streak. A win once in a while would do wonders for the team (not to mention my enthusiasm for blogging).

It also appears that Alex Auld cannot single handedly win a game for the Sens. I mean, he did okay, and no one is blaming him for the loss - and that's more than we have come to expect from Gerber this year.

I also want to add that tossing Chris Neil to the ice, then taking five fists in the face does not give you the victory in an NHL fight, Luke Schenn.

Filip Kuba continues to rack up the assists while his +/- remains stagnant. Despite his team-leading 11 points, he's a mere +1. Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov have looked slow and pourous, allowing wingers to blow past them wide (especially Big Rig), they're a combined -11.

After a couple games with five or more days before their next match, the Sens are now in the midst of three games in four days, with their next coming Monday night against the Sabres. How many more games before our faith will be restored?

Sens lose opener 4-3 in OT

For a first game of the year, it was alright. The Sens had some good things to take out of the 4-3 OT loss to Pittsburgh in the season opener in Stockholm, Sweden--notably one point in the standings. But it still left something to be desired.

I will begin with the most obvious: Martin Gerber had a terrible game. All four goals were stoppable, and three of them were of the very weak category--including the one off the first shot of the game. I'm sure Gerber will be the first to tell you how disappointed he was in his performance. I assumed, however, the team would go back with Darth Gerber for today's rematch, but apparently the team has elected to start Alex Auld, instead. Apparently his play wasn't the deciding factor, but it must have factored in at some point. Let the haters hate, I still think (hope?) Gerber can bounce back. At the outset of the season I predicted 35 wins or more for Gerber.

After Gerber, it was evident that Brian Lee and Alex Picard struggled at times. They are both young, and I expect nothing less than some time to adjust to the speed of the NHL game and each other's style. Filip Kuba wasn't tremendous, although he wasn't bad, but Jason Smith was just as described. He was also a pretty good passer, which isn't why he was signed but is a nice bonus. Team defence was pretty good at clearing Gerber rebounds away from danger, which is one thing that Gerber needs to be an effective goaltender--his game is supposed to be sound positional hockey, stopping the first shot so the team can clear the rebound. All he has to do now is stop the first shot.

The second-most evident shortcoming was an errant Jason Spezza dump-in that turned into the game-winning goal. It was a poor play from a player who, up to that point, had a great game. It was the same kind of mistake Spezza has been making since junior. It is something he will have to learn from, and move forward without repeating it. I don't buy the argument that asking Spezza to make the smart play when in a vulnerable position is stifling to his creativity; it's simply smart hockey.

Dean McAmmond and Shean Donovan were effective on the fourth line, and combined to score a great goal. Chris Neil had a good start to the season, drawing a penalty and showing good discipline in not retaliating. He'll have to keep that up. Nick Foligno had a solid game, but should be given an opportunity to play second-line minutes to be truly effective. And Jesse Winchester was rarely visible, but his game isn't flashy.

As much as some personal faults are to blame in this game, you've also got to chalk some up to adjustment. The team has had limited practice time, and is very different than it was last year. The season look ugly at the start, but Craig Hartsburg is implementing a new system that all parties will have to get used to.

So the rematch comes today, at 2:30, and the Sens will have an opportunity to turn this road trip around. With a win, the team will have earned 3 of a possible 4 points in a difficult road trip.